International Publication No. WO 2010/107756, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes an apparatus and associated method for forming a rod for use in the manufacture of cigarette filter elements. A continuous supply of a filter material is formed into a continuous filter rod by a rod-forming unit. An object insertion unit is configured to insert a plurality of first objects and a plurality of second objects into the continuous filter rod. A rod-dividing unit is configured to subdivide the continuous filter rod, at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal axis thereof, into a plurality of filter rod portions such that each filter rod portion includes at least one first object and at least one second object disposed therein, with the first objects being different from the second objects.
International Publication No. WO 2010/055120, which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes an apparatus for introducing objects into a smoking article comprising a reservoir for providing a plurality of objects to be introduced into the smoking article, a rotatable wheel for delivering the objects to the location where the objects are to be introduced into the smoking article, a transfer chamber for transferring the objects to the rotatable wheel, the transfer chamber being arranged between the reservoir and the rotatable wheel and being designed such that the objects are aligned into a single vertically arranged layer therein, and means for moving the objects from the single layer in the transfer chamber in a direction towards or along the peripheral surface of the rotatable wheel.
Due to the structure and function of these and other apparatuses known in the prior art, they are typically capable of operating at less than desired rod speeds, for example, at maximum rod speeds of approximately 85 meters per minute.